Wednesday, December 23, 2009

You don't need to like it

[Brookings Institute senior fellow Grover Whitehurst] pointed to the tests called Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or Timss. Countries in which a higher fraction of students said they liked math generally performed poorly, while some countries where students disliked math, like South Korea, scored among the best. (There are a few exceptions like Singapore, where students liked math and also did well.)--Kenneth Chang, NYT, on the meager payoff from liking math, or perhaps the cost of becoming good at math